Andaras Prime
01-07-2007, 13:17
December 3 is the anniversary of the Eureka Stockade battle of 1854, when the rebellious gold miners of Ballarat were attacked and overwhelmed in a military assault by troops and armed police.
The symbolism and magnitude of this significant event in Australia’s history has continued to influence the political consciousness of following generations, in spite of various attempts to sterilise or bury it.
Bakery Hill
The “diggers” of Ballarat had met on Bakery Hill on November 11 to demand radical but essentially bourgeois reforms from the autocratic rulers of the colony of Victoria. Led by the Ballarat Reform League, their main claims included parliamentary representation without any property qualification, voting rights for males, the right to own land, and the abolition of oppressive taxes such as the Diggers’ and Storekeepers’ Licences. These demands were also voiced at similar protest meetings in the goldfields of Bendigo and Castlemaine, as well as in Melbourne. In that historical period their demands were advanced for the times.
Prominent among the miners were some with republican and anti-colonial views, such as Raffaello Carboni who had fought with Garibaldi in Italy, a large contingent of Irish, and a few American and European socialists. The British Chartist movement which represented the rise of a mass working class movement was also an important influence.
The situation was a political crisis for the ruling class of British colonial administrators, rich squatters and merchants. It was, in fact, part of the early push for bourgeois democratic rights, a parallel to the bourgeois revolutionary upsurge in Europe at that time.
The miners swore allegiance to the blue and white flag of the Southern Cross, an act intended as a defiant challenge to the rule of British colonialism. To demonstrate their determination, they constructed a makeshift barricade at nearby Eureka, formed into armed squads, and called on other supporters to join them. Though they had not actually attacked the established colonial order, these actions were regarded by the ruling class as insurrection against the Crown.
Eureka Stockade
The miners were in a strong position. They enjoyed widespread public support and were well supplied by the surrounding rural populations. A moment when the stockade was not well defended was chosen for the dawn charge of the troopers on that Sunday morning. After a short and violent battle, the flag of Eureka was torn down. Some miners were murdered as they tried to surrender, others hunted down as they fled into the bush. Altogether 25 died, with many more wounded and beaten.
In the aftermath, the ruling class was forced by public outrage and the threat of spreading rebellion to release the arrested leaders and grant many of the reforms demanded by the Diggers.
Traditions of Eureka
The events at Ballarat have shaped the character of the Australian people in many ways. There is a long-standing tradition of egalitarianism among the people, the idea of “fair go”, that all people are equally deserving, whatever their origin and their economic position in society. On the goldfields, the Irish peasant toiled beside the German scholar, the black American sailor shared a tent with the farm laborer from New South Wales. The growth of an Australian multicultural identity can be linked back to the common struggle at Eureka.
Disrespect for petty authority is another characteristic that is deeply etched into the consciousness of the Australian people. This reflects the long and continuing struggle for democratic rights, as well as a certain contempt for the police and their political role as defenders of the status quo.
The concept of Australian national independence was born at Bakery Hill and has flowed through Australian history ever since. The demand for an Australian republic remains unsatisfied. It will emerge again. In contrast to the handful of rich finance capitalists and toady politicians who are hell-bent on selling off Australian resources to foreign imperialism, most Australians believe that the wealth of the country should be used to benefit people here, not investors in New York and London.
The Eureka Flag
The most enduring symbol of the Ballarat uprising is undoubtedly the Southern Cross, also known as the Eureka Flag. It is a symbol of the rebellion of ordinary people against tyranny and a symbol of the aspiration of the people for national sovereignty and independence.
For precisely these reasons, the flag was more or less adopted by the working class during the industrial struggles of the 1890’s, including the shearers’ strikes in 1891 and the later maritime strikes.
The Eureka flag has flown at every major struggle of the Australian people since.
In the fifties the original flag was re-discovered and put on public display for the centenary of the stockade battle in 1954.
The Communist Party had kept alive the memory and tradition through the establishment of the Eureka Youth League. In the seventies, the flag became part of the culture of the BLF, flown from cranes and pasted on bumper bars, representing workers’ class struggle. Many other Australians identified with the flag during this time.
The blue and white flag of Eureka has flown proudly at thousands of strikes, picket lines, rallies and demonstrations throughout Australia. Other unions have incorporated the flag in their official logos and union banners. It even bobs up at Test cricket matches and the Olympic Games!
The symbolism of the Eureka Flag is not lost on the ruling class of today. They fear it. Sometimes they try to adopt it and at other times belittle it. On the few occasions that the monopoly media acknowledges the presence of the flag, it is referred to only as a symbol of democratic rights, or trade union struggle. The revolutionary and national independence aspect of the Eureka tradition is conveniently pushed into the background.
At the mobilisation against the current anti-worker laws in June this year, one hundred and fifty thousand people swore by the Eureka oath.
For a Republic
As the struggle against US imperialism intensifies in Australia, fighters for national independence and a peoples’ republic will unite the broad mass of the people under the revolutionary symbol of the Eureka Flag.
The tradition and symbolism of the Eureka rebellion is more than ever relevant in today’s Australia. US imperialist control over Australia has tightened. People’s democratic rights for which the diggers had fought are being dismantled.
As the attacks on workers and other attacks against the rights of workers are stepped up, the lessons of Eureka will find plenty of scope for application.
I thought it most apt that I use this particular article I just read to start up a discussion over the legacy of that day in 1854, and the state of worker rights in Australia today. Even today the struggle of Eureka is more evident than ever, with the repressive anti-worker and anti-trade union laws of the business elite controlled Liberal Party and John Howard. The same aspects of class struggle against undeserved authority emerge so many years after that battle.
The symbolism and magnitude of this significant event in Australia’s history has continued to influence the political consciousness of following generations, in spite of various attempts to sterilise or bury it.
Bakery Hill
The “diggers” of Ballarat had met on Bakery Hill on November 11 to demand radical but essentially bourgeois reforms from the autocratic rulers of the colony of Victoria. Led by the Ballarat Reform League, their main claims included parliamentary representation without any property qualification, voting rights for males, the right to own land, and the abolition of oppressive taxes such as the Diggers’ and Storekeepers’ Licences. These demands were also voiced at similar protest meetings in the goldfields of Bendigo and Castlemaine, as well as in Melbourne. In that historical period their demands were advanced for the times.
Prominent among the miners were some with republican and anti-colonial views, such as Raffaello Carboni who had fought with Garibaldi in Italy, a large contingent of Irish, and a few American and European socialists. The British Chartist movement which represented the rise of a mass working class movement was also an important influence.
The situation was a political crisis for the ruling class of British colonial administrators, rich squatters and merchants. It was, in fact, part of the early push for bourgeois democratic rights, a parallel to the bourgeois revolutionary upsurge in Europe at that time.
The miners swore allegiance to the blue and white flag of the Southern Cross, an act intended as a defiant challenge to the rule of British colonialism. To demonstrate their determination, they constructed a makeshift barricade at nearby Eureka, formed into armed squads, and called on other supporters to join them. Though they had not actually attacked the established colonial order, these actions were regarded by the ruling class as insurrection against the Crown.
Eureka Stockade
The miners were in a strong position. They enjoyed widespread public support and were well supplied by the surrounding rural populations. A moment when the stockade was not well defended was chosen for the dawn charge of the troopers on that Sunday morning. After a short and violent battle, the flag of Eureka was torn down. Some miners were murdered as they tried to surrender, others hunted down as they fled into the bush. Altogether 25 died, with many more wounded and beaten.
In the aftermath, the ruling class was forced by public outrage and the threat of spreading rebellion to release the arrested leaders and grant many of the reforms demanded by the Diggers.
Traditions of Eureka
The events at Ballarat have shaped the character of the Australian people in many ways. There is a long-standing tradition of egalitarianism among the people, the idea of “fair go”, that all people are equally deserving, whatever their origin and their economic position in society. On the goldfields, the Irish peasant toiled beside the German scholar, the black American sailor shared a tent with the farm laborer from New South Wales. The growth of an Australian multicultural identity can be linked back to the common struggle at Eureka.
Disrespect for petty authority is another characteristic that is deeply etched into the consciousness of the Australian people. This reflects the long and continuing struggle for democratic rights, as well as a certain contempt for the police and their political role as defenders of the status quo.
The concept of Australian national independence was born at Bakery Hill and has flowed through Australian history ever since. The demand for an Australian republic remains unsatisfied. It will emerge again. In contrast to the handful of rich finance capitalists and toady politicians who are hell-bent on selling off Australian resources to foreign imperialism, most Australians believe that the wealth of the country should be used to benefit people here, not investors in New York and London.
The Eureka Flag
The most enduring symbol of the Ballarat uprising is undoubtedly the Southern Cross, also known as the Eureka Flag. It is a symbol of the rebellion of ordinary people against tyranny and a symbol of the aspiration of the people for national sovereignty and independence.
For precisely these reasons, the flag was more or less adopted by the working class during the industrial struggles of the 1890’s, including the shearers’ strikes in 1891 and the later maritime strikes.
The Eureka flag has flown at every major struggle of the Australian people since.
In the fifties the original flag was re-discovered and put on public display for the centenary of the stockade battle in 1954.
The Communist Party had kept alive the memory and tradition through the establishment of the Eureka Youth League. In the seventies, the flag became part of the culture of the BLF, flown from cranes and pasted on bumper bars, representing workers’ class struggle. Many other Australians identified with the flag during this time.
The blue and white flag of Eureka has flown proudly at thousands of strikes, picket lines, rallies and demonstrations throughout Australia. Other unions have incorporated the flag in their official logos and union banners. It even bobs up at Test cricket matches and the Olympic Games!
The symbolism of the Eureka Flag is not lost on the ruling class of today. They fear it. Sometimes they try to adopt it and at other times belittle it. On the few occasions that the monopoly media acknowledges the presence of the flag, it is referred to only as a symbol of democratic rights, or trade union struggle. The revolutionary and national independence aspect of the Eureka tradition is conveniently pushed into the background.
At the mobilisation against the current anti-worker laws in June this year, one hundred and fifty thousand people swore by the Eureka oath.
For a Republic
As the struggle against US imperialism intensifies in Australia, fighters for national independence and a peoples’ republic will unite the broad mass of the people under the revolutionary symbol of the Eureka Flag.
The tradition and symbolism of the Eureka rebellion is more than ever relevant in today’s Australia. US imperialist control over Australia has tightened. People’s democratic rights for which the diggers had fought are being dismantled.
As the attacks on workers and other attacks against the rights of workers are stepped up, the lessons of Eureka will find plenty of scope for application.
I thought it most apt that I use this particular article I just read to start up a discussion over the legacy of that day in 1854, and the state of worker rights in Australia today. Even today the struggle of Eureka is more evident than ever, with the repressive anti-worker and anti-trade union laws of the business elite controlled Liberal Party and John Howard. The same aspects of class struggle against undeserved authority emerge so many years after that battle.